Turnbull derails bid to save Kelly

Good morning, early birds. Malcolm Turnbull has made a play to stop Scott Morrison's plans for Craig Kelly, China and the US call a truce in their trade war, and there are fears for an Australia-based refugee facing refoulement to Bahrain after being detained in Bangkok. It's the news you need to know, with Chris Woods.

TURNBULL'S VISIBLE HAND

Malcolm Turnbull has seemingly cut short a plan by Prime Minister Scott Morrison to save far-right backbencher Craig Kelly from a preselection wipeout.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that calls from Turnbull to senior Liberals, relayed by the former prime minister at length on Twitter last night, have seemingly killed off momentum to cancel preselections across NSW with state emergency powers. Further, The Australian ($) reports that Turnbull told NSW minister Matt Kean that, should Kelly make good on his (retracted) threat to move to the crossbench, it would “force Morrison to an early election and that will save the Berejiklian government”.

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